Report: Mourinho organized small “training session” with Spurs players against social distancing guidelines

Look, far be it from me to pile on Tottenham Hotspur about stuff that they’re clearly doing wrong, but... uh, we might have another one here. According to Dan Kilpatrick of the Evening Standard, Jose Mourinho and a few of Spurs’ players have gotten themselves in some hot water with the club after Mourinho apparently organized some “training sessions” for three Spurs players who all live in the same area — Ryan Sessegnon, Tanguy Ndombele, and Davinson Sanchez.

Mourinho was pictured on Hadley Common in Barnet on Tuesday, along with Davinson Sanchez, Tanguy Ndombele and Ryan Sessegnon. All four live locally.

Video footage posted on social media showed Sessegnon and Sanchez jogging side-by-side, while Mourinho – who was wearing full Spurs training kit – was pictured with Ndombele and two other men, apparently stretching.

Here’s the tweet in question which was making the rounds on Spurs Twitter earlier today.

Now, look — the phrase “training session” might be doing an extraordinary amount of work in this instance. Was Mourinho organizing workouts for the players who live in his area? Sure sounds like it, though it might be more of a “Lads, we all live in Barnet, we should go out for a run when the weather’s nice.” At first glance, going out for a run doesn’t seem like the worst thing in the world to do.

But it’s still pretty bad. Players should be doing everything possible to respect social distancing guidelines to avoid the spread of this terrible virus. That means staying six feet apart at all times, even if you decide to run “together.” Not doing so suggests that you’re not taking this whole pandemic thing seriously, or at least not seriously enough.

Beyond that, Mourinho organizing any sort of training sessions, in quotes or otherwise, for players goes against the spirit of what these governmental guidelines are supposed to fight against. You have to wonder whether this was a suggestion or a directive from the manager, and if the players involved agreed because they wanted to impress their new boss. This particular activity doesn’t endanger a lot of people, but that’s really not the point. “Not endangering yourself or your teammate” is a pretty low bar and the people involved don’t seem to even be clearing that right now.

If you want to take a small comfort from this, it’s that the club has apparently shaken their finger sternly at everyone involved. But that’s pretty meager gruel. I’m really tired of this club doing dumb things and being the pariahs of the league. Can it stop please?